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Director David F. Sandberg, who helmed 2019's Shazam!, returns to his horror roots with Until Dawn for Screen Gems and PlayStation Productions, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sandberg signed a deal to direct the feature adaptation of the PlayStation horror video game. PlayStation, PlayStation Productions and Screen Gems are all under Sony.
The script was originally written by Blair Butler. It, Annabelle and The Nun screenwriter Gary Dauberman will do a pass on Butler's script. Butler's writing credits include Sony's 2022 vampire film The Invitation.
Dauberman also signed a first-look deal with Sony and Screen Gems to write horror movie will also serve as a producer on the film under his Coin Operated production company. Sandberg and Lotta Losten will also share producing duties through their Mangata company, together with Vertigo Entertainment's Roy Lee and Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan for PlayStation Productions.
Can you stay alive Until Dawn?
Until Dawn was released in 2015 as an interactive drama horror video game. It was developed by British game developer Supermassive Games for the PlayStation 4. Players control eight young adults who need to survive Blackwood Mountain. The game uses a butterfly effect system, which means players' choices may change the way the story plays out. All the playable characters in the game can either survive or die, depending on their choices.
The team who developed the game wanted to create one that was equivalent to a slasher movie. The developers were inspired from horror movies such as Evil Dead II and Poltergeist, as well as other video games like Heavy Rain, Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The team used a galvanic skin response test to measure the testers' fear levels while they were playing.
Until Dawn has been praised for its storyline and voice acting. Rami Malek, Peter Stormare, Hayden Panettiere, Jordan Fisher, Brett Dalton, Meaghan Martin and Nicole Bloom lent their voices to the video games' characters.
The film's logline hasn't been released, but the studio has described it as an R-rated love letter to the horror genre.
PlayStation Productions is also the home of recent video games adapted for both the small and big screens such as the award-winning The Last of Us from HBO, last year's Gran Turismo and Twisted Metal movies.
Dauberman and Sandberg's horrific winning combo
Dauberman has written and directed a feature adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot for Warner Bros. He's also in the process of creating a live-action movie for Disney+ based on the 1980s animated series Gargoyles.
Sandberg started out making horror shorts in his home country Sweden before one of his projects, 2016's Closet Space, had Hollywood's eyes on him. In the same year, he made his feature film debut with Lights Out, which became a low-budget hit. He then directed Annabelle: Creation, part of the Conjuring universe which Dauberman wrote, the following year.
This went on to make $305 million globally against a $15 million budget. He then moved to bigger budgets with DC's Shazam! and its sequel, 2023's Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
